


Both Directions

by Aloysius



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Character Death, EriSol on the side, Expect adorable pale babies, Its a happy story really I promise, Its mostly Karkat, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-15
Updated: 2013-02-15
Packaged: 2017-11-29 10:02:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/685698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aloysius/pseuds/Aloysius
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Karkat didn't really mean to step out into the road, but really, things turned out pretty great.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Both Directions

**Author's Note:**

> I'm really bad at summaries gomen ;_;

It wasn't quick, and it wasn't painless.  
  
This also applied to Karkat's day at college. His first lesson dragged on, boring. His second lesson, the teacher didn't show up and the substitute had no work for them so he sat and played with his phone and tried to ignore the taunts from his classmates. Lunch was a similar affair, mostly comprised of him trying to find a quiet place where he wouldn't have rubbish thrown at him and punches thrown at his face. His afternoon classes were with his least favourite teacher, who picked on him so severely that even the guys who bullied him - the worst of whom was sat next to him; his teachers idea of a joke - showed him sympathy. Of course he left the class with detention. He figured three hours after school was harsher than usual, and he'd probably get lumped with all the unwanted jobs that teachers tried to avoid. Cleaning out the disgusting science equipment would probably be first on the list.  
By the time he finally got out it had gone dark, and what had been a steady drizzle of rain at lunch had turned into a horrendous downpour. When he tried to use his umbrella it broke. His shoes leaked. A car sped through a puddle and soaked him through. The traffic was so thick on the main road there was hardly time for him to cross.  
  
He stepped out anyway.  
  
It wasn't quick, and it wasn't painless.  
  
It felt like his entire side had been crushed. He couldn't feel his legs, his head throbbed and the streetlights hurt his eyes. He tried to move but was overcome by pain, and choked on the blood he coughed up in a steady stream.  
"Oh my _god_."  
Someone dropped to the ground next to him, blocking the streetlights. Cool, soft hands brushed his wet hair from his face.  
"Hey, come on, look at me. Just look at me look at my face."  
Blood dripped into his eyes as he looked up to meet the strangers face. Startling blue eyes wide in shock and concern were hidden behind thick framed glasses, black hair with a violent purple streak hung in his face as it was flattened by the rain, delicate lips moved in speech, but the sound didn't match.  
"Focus on my voice okay. Your student ID says your name is Karkat? My name's Eridan Ampora. And i'm so fuckin sorry. I didn't even see you you just stepped out of nowhere I didn't have time to brake. Just keep your eyes on me alright the ambulance is comin you'll be alright but just stay with me _please_."  
He tried to focus on the little things. Things he had to concentrate on to see properly. The man's pointed, feminine face. Trying to remember the guys name. The glint of his lip ring reflecting in the headlights of his car. His expensive purple scarf. His white t-shirt that was going see-through in the rain.  
"Please just stay awake."  
He moved and the harsh streetlight was in his eyes again.  
"You'll be okay, please."  
His head throbbed painfully. Eridan's delicate hands were carefully stroking his hair, but he stopped as he brushed the injury on Karkat's head. He tried to say something, to ask him to keep going, but only managed a mangled gurgling sound as the blood filled his throat again,  
"No, don't talk, just listen to me okay just keep listenin. The ambulance will be here soon and we can get you to hospital and get you out of this rain..."  
He could feel the blood dribbling down his chin but couldn't move to stop it.  
"... an I promise i'll come visit you in hospital i'll make this up to you I..."  
His voice was drifting closer then further away, like a wave, and he watched Eridan's mouth move with a deteriorating determination.  
"...i'll come every single day, and then when you're okay i'll take you to dinner or to the theatre or out for drinks, anythin you want i'll do anythin just please be okay..."  
Eridan's hand was on the side of his face gently stroking the abused skin, and it lulled him, his eyes drifting shut. The last thing he saw was the blood on Eridan's pale hands and the raindrops running in rivulets down his glasses, heard his frantic voice pleading for him to stay awake.  
  
When he opened his eyes again, he was in the back of an ambulance, an oxygen mask over his face and sirens screaming in his ears. Someone unfamiliar was bending over him and Eridan's soft, frantic voice and comforting hands were gone. They were talking incessantly but he didn't hear the words.  
  
Eridan's frenzied pleas would be the last thing he ever heard.  
  
He may have been in an ambulance, but he could still feel the impression of the wet pavement against his cheek, feel the rain running down his cold skin. He closed his eyes to block out the paramedic, and tried to imagine the tiny details. The piercing blue eyes and thick frames. The wet black hair and the purple streak. The pointed face. The lips moving too fast for him to keep up. The lip ring. The scarf. The see-through shirt. The name. Eridan. Eridan. Eridan...  
  
Despite the overwhelming sense of guilt, he smiled.  
  
The next time he opened his eyes, there was a high ceiling above him and nothing hurt. He belatedly remembered Eridan's promise to visit him everyday and he looked around for him in vain. There was no-one. Instead, he saw a bookcase to his right. Looking to the left, there was another. He sat up swiftly, and they were all around him. It was a small room, with a massive vaulted ceiling and stained glass windows above the bookshelves which filtered in soft light. The bookshelves covered every wall and there was no door. The carpet beneath him was thick and soft and white. There was one table made of dark wood, and one red armchair.  
He sat in shock for a short while, eventually moving to drift around the room and scan the titles of books. He picked a few out, and settled in the chair to read. There was nothing else for him to do, after all.  
By the time he finished the first book, the light hadn't changed at all and no time appeared to have passed.  
He started the second.  
  
Four books later he threw them across the room. He couldn't read forever. His hands felt idle and he gnawed on the ends of his fingers agitatedly.  
"I could really go for a slice of cheesecake or something right now..." He mused aloud.  
 _"Hello?"_  
He jumped to his feet and glanced around wildly. "Who's there? Where are you?"  
 _"Me? I'm in class right now. Where did you end up today?"_  
An odd way to phrase a question, he thought, but these were pretty odd circumstances. "A library. I'm in a library. Can you tell me where?"  
 _"Well, you're dead."_ He said it bluntly, and Karkat was taken aback.  
Of course he was dead. It was obvious when he thought about it.   
"Well if i'm dead then what does that make you?"  
 _"Oh, i'm alive. We can swap if you like, do you miss math class at all?"_ The voice chuckled dryly. It was definitely a man's voice, and it had a strong lisp.  
"If you're alive then how the fuck are we talking?" Needing something to do with his hands he picked up the books from where they lay in a heap on the floor and replaced them on the shelves.  
 _"I can hear you. In my head. I hear everyone who's dying but it's not often I can still hear someone who's actually dead."_  
"You're crazy." Karkat remarked, idly pulling all the books back off the shelves.  
The man laughed loudly, the sound reverberating off the walls. _"Maybe you're crazy. Maybe you're imagining me."_  
"Touché." He began to replace the books in alphabetical order.  
 _"I think I heard you._ " He seemed more to be talking to himself. _"You were mumbling, something about glasses and blue eyes and purple hair. Didn't make much sense. It sounded like you anyway."_  
"Yeah, that was me." Putting the books in alphabetical order was proving hard but he kept going. "That was the guy who helped me. Well, he was also the guy that hit me with his fucking car but, he stuck around." He shrugged, even though the guy couldn't see it. "What did he say his name was? Elliot? No that wasn't it. Ellis? No, no...damnit I don't remember!" The books in his hands were thrown to the ground in frustration.  
" _Hey man, don't sweat it. It'll come to you eventually. In the meantime wanna help me with some maths work? I mean I could do this shit with my eyes closed but it'll give you something to do."_  
"Wow that is a really hard question let me think about this for a second, yeah, I think im gonna go with fuck no. Fuck no is my answer." He picked up his dropped books again and began replacing them on the shelf in a haphazard order.  
" _Well then do you want to BE some maths work?"_  
Karkat raised an eyebrow. "Why the fuck would I want to be some maths work?"  
 _"Because then you'd be really hard and i'd be doing you on the desk_." He cackled loudly to himself, and Karkat found it hard to fight back a smirk.  
"Ah well see, I was never really any good at maths, but then my teacher summed it up."  
 _"Well i'm glad you had a competent teacher, my maths teacher's qualifications just didn't add up."_  
Karkat had begun to giggle. "I mean I used to hate maths, but then I realised decimals have a point."  
" _This is so stupid, im basically just laughing at how stupid this is. Which is awkward because im still sort of in class FUCK."_  
"Oh don't worry, it's not you they're staring at. It's just that they're not so good at maths so 2n + 2n is 4n to them."  
" _Okay no seriously stop, class is over and i'm gonna look ridiculous walking around college laughing to myself this has to stop."_  
Karkat ignored the piles of books still on the floor and flopped backwards onto the carpet, arms and legs spread eagled. "What time is it? Is it lunch or do you have another lesson?"  
 _"Two hours of Chemistry."_  
Karkat smirked.   
  
He didn't know he could sleep, but he antagonised his alive friend until three in the morning alive time, when he'd finally turned off his laptop after spending hours talking Karkat through a new virus he was coding and eventually went to bed. Karkat was still spread eagled on the floor and hardly even noticed his eyes drifting closed, and then he was waking up.  
" _Where are you today?"_  
Karkat sat up bolt upright and panicked, but then remembered his alive friend he could hear in his mind and relaxed. As if that were normal.  
"I'm in a fucking cafe. Oh god, what if there are hipsters. Save me from the hipsters, i'm begging you."  
 _"Oh my god just relax and get a fucking coffee. I am going to do the same. Everything is better after coffee."_  
Karkat got up from the satisfyingly comfy chair he'd woken up in and climbed over the counter, finding an already brewed pot waiting for him. "You got college today?"  
" _Nah, it's a Saturday. Lazy Saturday, of course. I've been in bed until twelve."_  
"Wow, I miss those. Let me guess, computer all day?"  
" _Nope, gonna go get me some bees."_  
Karkat reached over the counter to get a muffin. "Excuse me?"  
" _Uh, you know. Bees? Most badass motherfucker of all the insects? Make they very honey which is in my coffee right now?"_  
"You keep bees."  
 _"Yes."_  
"Why on earth do you keep bees?"  
 _"Why don't you?"_  
"Because i'm dead."  
 _"Keep dead bees."_  
"I don't want any bees."  
 _"The bees are hurt and offended."_  
"I'm sure they are."  
 _"They'll never give you honey again."_  
"Never mind."  
" _I've lost my car keys."_  
Karkat snorted into his coffee.  
  
He woke up face down in the snow. Groggily, he sat up and gathered it in his hands. He couldn't feel a thing.  
  
 _"Where are you today?"_  
"My room, thank god."  
 _"Oh, that must be nice. Can you get out?"_  
He tried the door and it swung open. "Affirmative."  
" _Well then private, your next mission is to find a way out of the house."_  
"I'm not LARPing with you so don't even go there." He stomped down the stairs loudly, remembering the way they creaked under his feet.  
 _"Nah man, Terezi's the roleplayer not me."_  
He rolled his eyes and tried to front door. "Locked."  
 _"Welp, sounds like you're home stuck."_  
"Is that some sort of bad pun?"  
 _"No. Would you like a bad pun? I can give you a bad pun."_  
Karkat sighed. "Go on then. I should never have started this fucking pun thing."  
 _"Show me a piano falling down a mine shaft and I'll show you A-flat minor."_  
"That's bad alright." He drifted into his kitchen and found his secret stash of PopTarts.  
 _"Are any puns good?"_  
"No. Did you get any bees?"  
 _"YES they are wonderful they forgive you for being an ass they all want to be your friends I named the queen Beatrice but I call her Bea for short oh hell that's kindof a pun isn't it FUCK."_  
He ripped open the box and put one in the microwave. "I'll forgive that one. What am I missing in alive land?"  
 _"Uh, the presidential elections coming up, I have a date, which is obviously more important, my Dads want to adopt another kid so I might have a screaming baby around the house soon...that's it."_  
"I hate children so much." He took his PopTart out of the microwave and blew on it to cool it down.  
 _"Likewise. They want another boy. They say when I move out to Uni he can have my bedroom, which i'm sure you'll agree is charming."_  
"Absolutely." He replied around a mouthful of PopTart. "Take their room in return."  
" _I'm going to do it now. They're in bed. I'm just going to casually get under the covers with them and when they wake up they will be greeted by my beautiful face."_  
"Oh you prankster you!" He cried sarcastically, opening the fridge and pulling out a carton of juice. He was pretty sure being dead meant he didn't need to eat or drink but that didn't stop stuff from tasting great.  
" _I learnt from the best! Although most would argue John isn't the best but... Oh gross! Dad's only in his boxers! God buy some fucking pyjamas!"_  
"Go and buy him the most ugly ones you can find." He flopped down on the sofa and turned the TV on with his foot, unsurprisingly not receiving a signal.  
 _"Fuck that I will KNIT him some._ "  
"Can you knit?"  
" _That is irrelevant. Oh my god their bed is really comfy this is so unfair. Oh shit help Dad just put his arm around me I think he thinks I'm other Dad, assistance needed."_  
"You brought this on yourself. You are on your own. And besides my little ghosty hands are unable to do anything to assist in your predicament, look, look at me try, I am trying but nothing is happening, I am un-fucking-able to assist." To his credit, he did put down his PopTart and flail his hands in the air.  
  
He stood on in a rock jutting out on the brink of a waterfall, all pounding water and cold air, with his shirt and shoes off, arms held out at his sides. Ironically, he'd never felt more alive. Until he let himself fall and hit the water soundlessly; it was suddenly an ocean vast and unforgiving and thriving. He spent nine hours without coming up for air.  
  
 _"So where are you today?"_  
"I would really like to just stay in one fucking place is that too much to ask afterlife? You are so generous and kind to the poor dead souls that get stuck in you."  
 _"Oo-er.”_  
"No, you shut your face."  
There was silence.  
"What the fuck are you doing?"  
 _"Shutting my face. What are YOU doing?"_  
"I'm being dead. Doing dead things. Deading about."  
  
The desert was the worst place to wake up, because the light was too bright and it stretched on forever and ever and the sand got in his shoes and his hair and his eyes, and he hated it.  
  
 _"Where are you today?"_  
Karkat blinked and looked around tiredly. "It's a fucking beach."  
 _"Life's a beach, babe."_  
"Oh fucking be quiet." He heaved himself to his feet and surveyed the new surroundings. Te beach stretched on for miles in each direction, with soft white sand leading down to crystal clear water. The sky was pink and orange and cloudless, and clusters of lush green trees behind him provided shelter from the setting sun. One lone pier jutted out into the ocean, and he took off his battered shoes and padded down to the end of it, sitting and letting his feet dangle in the water.  
" _What, you don't appreciate my impeccable humour today? I am hurt and offended. In fact I just had a word with my humour, it is called Frank by the way, and it is offended too. Frank says you can go suck my huge throbbing dick."_  
Karkat kicked his feet idly. "What even IS your name?"  
" _Hm? Oh, it's Sollux. And to whom does Frank have the pleasure of being offended by?"_  
"Karkat." He watched a fish swim to his feet boldly and nibble at one of his toes.  
" _Karkat apparently in a foul mood."_  
"Hey, you try being dead you insensitive fuck!" He snapped irritably, kicking the fish away.  
" _Wow, my bad princess. But hey, I know what'll cheer you up."_  
"Oh do please enlighten me.  
" _Suspenders."_ The lisp completely slaughtered the word, and it came out as a mangled 'thuthpenderth'.  
Karkat smirked, but didn't laugh. "Frankly I'm concerned that you own a pair."  
Sollux chuckled dryly. " _Well, I don't, but Eridan might_."  
Eridan? "Who's Eridan?"  
" _Oh, he's kindof sortof my boyfriend I guess? He's pretty messed up at the moment, ran a kid over the other week. Goes to visit him every day in hospital. I'm taking him camping but he's insisting he has to go to the hospital every day so we're only going for one night but i've rounded up a few other assholes so it should be fun."_  
Eridan? "Sex while camping is always in tents."  
 _"Oh CHRIST not again!"_  
Karkat did chuckle a bit this time. "Sorry he's feeling shit though man. How's the kid?"  
 _"Oh, alive, for now."_  
"That sounds like a threat..."  
 _"Nope, just a coma. But the doctors say -"_  
Eridan!  
  
Karkat's eyes opened and he blinked. Once. Twice. The light was bright and it hurt, but not like the desert did. His eyes stung, but not like when there was sand in them. He couldn't breathe, but not like at the bottom of the ocean. The shapes he saw were blurry, but they were moving.  
Nothing moves when you're dead.  
  
He blinked. Once. Twice. The light didn't hurt because it was hardly there. It glowed softly to his right, and he tried in vain to sit. He was so tired, and his body wouldn't listen. A warmth settled in his hand and squeezed. A soft murmuring joined the faint beep drifting around the room, and then it squeezed again. He squeezed back.  
  
He knew the blue eyes and the black hair with the purple steak and the delicate lips on the feminine face with the lip ring that glinted in the light and an expensive teal scarf instead of purple with a thick black jumper that wasn't see through in the rain. He didn't know the name.  
"I came every day. Just like I promised."  
His voice was soft and he didn't mind that Karkat's face was pressed into the pillow and he couldn't find the strength to reply and instead just clung limply to his hand.  
"Once you're better i'll take ya out. I promised that too, remember? To dinner an the theatre."  
His hand settled in Karkat's hair and it felt so familiar, with gentle comforting strokes that made him smile.  
The door opened behind him.  
"Eridan?"  
Eridan. It was so obvious. Staring him in the face. Eridan had remembered his promises, but Karkat had forgotten.  
An unfamiliar figure loomed into view. He was tall and lanky, with light brown hair that hung in his eyes defiantly and stuck up at odd angles. He had sharp cheekbones and a nose that looked like it had been broken a few times, supporting a pair of thin framed 3D glasses. His clothes looked too big for his long limbs; a baggy green hoodie with an unfamiliar skull logo and ripped blue jeans that dragged of the floor.  
Karkat had never seen him before in his life, and he had no idea why he was by his hospital bed. He furrowed his face in confusion and Eridan laughed softly, ruffling Karkat's hair. The man smiled too and leaned forward to place his hand on top of Karkat's head, intertwining his fingers with Eridan's.  
"Suspenders." His sharp lisp cut through his sharp voice, and it came out as a mangled 'thuthpenderth'.  
He reached across the bed to take Karkat's free hand, and the three of them were in a tangled mess together on the bed. Karkat lay back for a while, listening to them talk and savouring them massaging his scalp, before he finally tugged on Sollux's hand to get his attention.   
His voice was quiet and strained, but spoke volumes.  
"I _heard_ you."  
  
Karkat was bored and his wounds itched but he was still forbidden from getting up without assistance. At first he just enjoyed the little things about being alive. He liked feeling the warmth of being wrapped in a blanked, sent Eridan and Sollux to bring him Chinese food and cheesecake and fried chicken and savoured the taste in his mouth and the way the warmth spread through him and settled in his stomach. He liked staying up late and actually getting tired. But he got bored of being told off by the nurses and then everything started to get boring.   
He made Sollux go fetch him some video games and books, but he clearly over-estimated Karkat's boredom. He was staggering under the weight of a small library as he struggled through the door.  
"How's Frank?" Karkat inquired cheerfully.  
Sollux laughed his dry chuckle and dumped the books on the chair by the bed. "Frank thinks you're hilarious. And Beatrice says hello."  
He handed Karkat a small jar of honey, and he ate it straight from the jar.  
  
Karkat's father came once and asked in a dangerous manner who had run him over. Eridan went to own up immediately, but Karkat pinched the back of his hand viciously and Sollux kicked him in the shin. His father ranted and raved and made several threats but eventually left to do whatever it was the 'Midnight Crew' did, while Karkat demanded if Eridan had a death wish.  
  
When they let him leave, he didn't go home. Eridan and Sollux had moved into an apartment together, and somehow Karkat found himself on their couch. He felt different. Happy. Eridan cooked dinner every night and he and Sollux squabbled like a married couple and they forbade him from going back to college. He found he didn't quite shout as much as he used to, but found he could make an exception when Sollux got the video games out.  
He stayed up late with Sollux every night, and the two exchanged puns until long after midnight while Sollux tapped away on his laptop. Eventually he settled on the couch under two blankets and punched his pillows to get them comfy while Sollux drifted around turning off the lights and checking the doors were locked. Karkat would pull the blankets nearly over his head and as Sollux walked past to head for the stairs he'd pause, ruffle Karkat's hair and lean down to press their foreheads together.  
Through the darkness Karkat whispered "I heard you."  
"I heard you too."

**Author's Note:**

> Apologies for any formatting issues A03 does not like me.


End file.
